National News

New report reveals shocking details surrounding Osama bin Laden

(Liz Klimas) An official government report published by the Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera Monday reveals details surrounding the U.S. raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011, including how the man charged with organizing the 9/11 attacks could have been caught eight years earlier.

The 336-page report was written by the Abbottabad Commission, which was tasked by the Pakistani government with investigating the circumstances of the covert mission that killed bin Laden, was published by Al-Jazeera after being leaked to the station by unknown sources.

The report delves into how bin Laden was able to live in Pakistan undetected for nine years because of a breathtaking scale of negligence and incompetence at practically all levels of the Pakistani government.

The fact that the compound where bin Laden was hiding was located only about a half a mile from Pakistan’s equivalent of West Point led many in the U.S. to suspect Pakistani officials of aiding the al Qaeda chief, although officials never found evidence to back that up.

The report said it also found no evidence that current or former Pakistani officials helped bin Laden hide, although it couldn’t rule it out completely either. It said very little is known about the network of support that bin Laden had in Pakistan, other than the group of family and backers that lived with him in Abbottabad.